By Kate Burke
First home buyers were left disappointed at the auction of a Dulwich Hill apartment on Saturday, after a downsizer made the winning bid for a two-bedroom apartment that sold for $880,000.
Four first home buyers, including one already renting in the building, and a downsizer, turned out to compete for 18/451-457 New Canterbury Road.
A Dulwich Hill apartment sold for $880,000 at auction on Saturday.Credit: Peter Rae
It was among just 279 Sydney properties scheduled for auction on Saturday, due to the long weekend. By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 57.2 per cent from 187 reported results, while 49 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
Bidding on the two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment on a main road opened at $700,000 and climbed rapidly in $10,000 increments to $860,000, as three of the bidders made offers, then slowed to $5000 increases.
Within 90 seconds the bidding reached the $880,000 sale price. At that point, a first home buyer who had yet to take part, was heard rejecting an offer for additional funds from their parents, to help them make a bid. They noted they had their limit and were sticking to it.
Downsizer Bruce Johns made the winning bid for the 160-square-metre apartment, which sold for $80,000 above the reserve. He had been renting in nearby Marrickville, since selling his home in the Hills District.
“Interest rates [first] went up on the Tuesday before our settlement,” Johns said. “The market has been quiet [since] ... and I think this is good value,” he said.
Selling agent Aaron Papadimatos of Devine Real Estate Marrickville and Dulwich Hill said it was a strong auction for the current market, and noted that fully finished properties were seeing stronger demand due to increased building costs.
“For apartments that are move-in ready ... people are spending that little bit extra,” he said.
Papadimatos said first home buyer activity was quite low compared to what was seen in previous years, but was starting to come back a little. However, with another cash rate hike expected on Tuesday, rising interest rates were never far from buyer’s minds.
Auctioneer Peter Etheridge had an opening offer within seconds for the New Canterbury Road apartment.Credit: Peter Rae
“That’s hurting everybody, hurting people with what they’re paying on a monthly basis, hurting people with their serviceability, hurting people with their borrowing capacity ...it is taking a huge toll on the market,” he said.
Records show the apartment last traded for $445,000 in 2009.
In Castle Hill, a six-bedroom house with a pool at 16 Damsel Court, sold for $3.41 million.
The bidding kicked off at $2.8 million, hit the $3 million price guide on the second bid, and then climbed by $100,000 and $50,000 jumps to $3.3 million, before slowing to smaller increments.
Cooley Auctions’ Michael Garofolo took bids from four of the eight registered bidders, and the 1065-square-metre block sold to a family upsizing from Dundas Valley. The result was $210,000 above the reserve.
Selling agent Ismail Ates of The Studio Estate Agents said the vendors, who were moving to Queensland, were stoked with the result. Records show they bought the property for $640,000 in 2008, and they rebuilt on the block about five years ago.
“Properties that are new and renovated are just still hot and in demand, for this one I even had overseas interest,” Ates said.
In Birchgrove, downsizers from the eastern suburbs bid against themselves to secure a three-bedroom terrace at 25 Cove Street.
Four buyers registered to bid on the three-storey home on a 127-square-metre block, including two buyers – an investor and a young family from Newtown – who had never previously inspected the property.
The auction began with an offer of $2 million, and three bidders pushed the price up to $2.29 million, at which the bidding stalled.
Negotiations on the auction floor followed, and the highest bidders, the downsizers, then increased their offer by another $60,000 to the $2.35 million reserve price, and the home sold.
The terrace sold through Brandon Nguyen of BresicWhitney Balmain, and records show it last traded for $1.8 million in 2018.
In Darlington, a two-bedroom terrace on a 70-square-metre block sold for $1.42 million, shortly after it passed in.
Five buyers, mostly young professionals, registered to bid on 51 Ivy Street, and three bidders made offers, pushing the price from an opening bid of $1.15 million to $1.4 million, at which the home was passed in.
It sold to the highest bidder shortly afterwards, after she increased her offer by $20,000.
The home was sold by Ian Comyns from Exchange Property Sales & Management, and records show it last sold for $415,000 in 2001.
In Hurstville, a five-bedroom house at 26 John Street sold for $2,034,000. Bidding began at $1.2 million – well below the $1.7 million price guide and $2 million reserve price – and rose in large increments, as four of the nine registered bidders made offers.
The 493-square metre block sold through Michael Curtis of Ray White Hurstville to a local family.
It last traded for $262,000 in 1997.